Grigons & Orr Corner Store

Another day, another brunch spot! I picked up Fatbee after his graveyard shift one morning and we decided to pop over somewhere near for brunch on the way home.

I’d actually been to Grigons & Orr twice before, and while I did not remember the brunch fare, I recalled liking its old-style interior. Colourful boxes of merchandise, mismatched tables and chairs…

… and a drinks fridge embedded inside stacks and stacks of old crates.

Chai Latte $4 | Mixed Berry House Smoothie $6.50

The cafe looks small on the outside, but that day we learnt that there were more rooms and seating upstairs. So we ended up on the quiet second floor. I had my usual chai latte, which was on the mild (and watery) side, while Fatbee had a smoothie served in an awesome Felix da Cat glass. The smoothie was good, albeit rather oddly topped with a sprinkle of cinnamon powder. I thought that was a bit of an old-school touch… perhaps?

Fatbee’s quite vegetarian with his choices when it comes to eating out, so this dish appealed. The avocado ‘egg’ was actually half an avo filled with mashed pumpkin.

His only comment was “it’s very healthy”… ha ha! But overall he was’t too impressed but the tofu steak was pretty alright.

Corn Fritters. Bacon, chilli jam, poached eggs & hollandaise $17.50

Ever since my pleasurable experience with corn fritters at Mart 130, I’d been ordering this dish quite regularly at other brunch spots. When ordering this, I made sure I asked for the hollandaise to be served on the side. It’s a rich creamy sauce and I wanted to titrate how much of it I’d want to eat.

Don’t you love a good shot of yolk porn? These fritters were more like fluffy hotcakes with a sprinkle of corn and chillies, it was okay but didn’t quite hit the mark for me. They could’ve paired it with something sweet or tangy to help counterpoint the savouriness of the bacon and corncakes.

Grigons & Orr is situated in a very pretty spot in a quite part of North Melbourne. And while the offerings didn’t quite hit the mark for us this time, I liked the rustic ambience and friendly staff.